1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention generally relate to flow analysis for hydrocarbon production and, more particularly, to flow rate analysis in a multiphase fluid.
2. Description of the Related Art
Oil and/or gas operators periodically measure oil/water/gas phase fractions (relative concentrations) of an overall production fluid flow in order to aid in optimizing well production, allocating royalties, inhibiting corrosion/hydrates (e.g., based on the amount of water), and generally determining the well's performance. Multiphase metering may be desired for measuring individual well production of oil, water, and gas. In subsea applications, since many production systems involve commingling of multiple wells prior to the riser, subsea multiphase metering may be the only option to get individual well rates other than a measure-by-difference technique.
Various approaches for analyzing the phase fraction of such fluid flows exist and include full or partial phase separation and sensors based on capacitance, density and microwave measurements. However, known measurement techniques suffer from their own unique drawbacks and/or limitations, such as frequent calibrations, as well as sensitivity to salinity, gas, and emulsions. In addition, current subsea multiphase meters can be prohibitively expensive.